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Hi, first time post. My DS09 (is that how you write son in the 9th grade) is in an international school which teaches math topics iteratively, so he has had exposure to a lot of algebra, geometry, some trig and pre-calc. He now wants to do some online self-study programs and I am considering Center for Talented Youth (John's Hopkins) or Stanford's program. We want him take Algebra II, trig, pre-calc, and then go from there, but there is some upfront cost in joining one system, so wanted to hear other's experiences. He will not be skipping grades, but will continue with his international school IB curriculum and choose higher maths. Suggestions?

Welcome!

DS09 would be a Dear Son, Age 9 (not 9th grade). There is a sticky post List of Common Gifted Acronyms at the top of the Parenting and Advocacy forum, to help acquaint new readers with terms.

If you are wanting challenges in Math, take some time to explore the artofproblemsolving.com website. Your son could sign up to take online courses or you can buy the books and he can self-study. Also the website has alcumus and "for the win" he might want to explore.

Good luck

The general term you looking for is integrated math. This is an alternative curriculum that is taught in the US, just less frequently than the traditional Algebra 1, geometry, ect.

What are you trying to get out of his taking higher math? Are you looking for classes that give your son credit or are you just trying to challenge him or prepare him for math completions? I ask this because if you don't care about credit classes than there is a lot more out there than Standford and John Hopkins. I don't have enough experience to recommend either but I am sure there are others here who can tell you their experiences.

Have you looked at Khan Academy (https://www.khanacademy.org/ )or Aleks (http://www.aleks.com/) ? Khan Academy is free, and I know Aleks has integrated math classes. I wouldn't do either instead of a course but they can work well for supplemental. Another option that many people here like is AOPS - Art of Problem Solving (http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/). They have books as well as online classes. One advantage to their work is they are specifically geared towards higher critical thinking type classes not just meeting curriculum goals.

Welcome! We use EPGY and Khan and we're ultimately going to switch to AoPS. Best of luck to you!

Hi All, thanks for the feedback. Yes, integrated math. That's what his school does. My son does not want to get out of taking higher math, but wants to prepare to take the highest level of IB math-- further Mathematics HL, so wants to work outside of school to progress in the different branches of math faster. We have used Khan Academy for years, but we were looking for something a bit more structured. The artofproblemsolving seems to offer the courses we need but only at specific times. As we live around the world from those courses, they are held when my son is in school. So we are looking for self-paced learning that is geared toward teenagers (hopefully won't be as dry as correspondence courses I took in college). CTY is appealing but quite expensive (about $2,500 for 9 months of courses all in). We used 4 years ago back when he was in elementary school. Perhaps we should give ALEKS another go.